West Aurora 60, Wheaton Warrenville South 24

Basketball teams often have a defensive goal of holding opponents to single-digit scoring in a quarter.

West Aurora's boys team nearly accomplished that feat for three quarters.

Dominating wire to wire while welcoming the return of senior three-year varsity member Tyler Thompson, the visiting Blackhawks stayed unbeaten while rolling to Friday's 60-24 DuPage Valley Conference win over Wheaton Warrenville South.

Any thoughts that West Aurora (9-0, 4-0) might be looking ahead to tonight's 211th cross-town game at home against East Aurora disappeared early in the first half.

After Dan Phillip's 3-pointer pulled WW South (6-3, 1-3) within 10-8 at the start of the second quarter, the Blackhawks scored the next 15 points to take a 25-8 halftime lead.

West Aurora extended the run to 25-0, building a 35-8 lead. WW South finally scored after a 12-minute, 23-second drought, and hit double digits with 2:26 left in the third quarter.

"I think we were just very well focused coming in here," said Blackhawks coach Gordie Kerkman. "I was a little concerned with (tonight's) game against East, that we might be looking past this game. But, not to take anything away from the East-West game, this was more important to us because it was a conference game."

After a four-game absence because of a broken right pinkie finger, Thompson returned to score a game-high 12 points off the bench. Looking fluid and comfortable, the 6-foot-5 center entered the game midway through the first quarter.

"It felt great to be back," Thompson said. "They've been playing well without me, so it's not just me. They gave me a lot of great passes out there."

Thompson, 6-4 sophomore Derrick Johnson and 6-4 senior Theo Hicks had their way inside, combining for half the team's points and 16 rebounds. Jamal Blackmond added 10 more bench points as 10 players scored.

To top off a near-perfect night, West Aurora made all 16 of its free-throw attempts.

Steve Dolatowski sparked the Tigers by scoring all 8 of his points late in the third quarter. West Aurora outscored WW South 19-4 in the fourth quarter, holding the Tigers without a field goal in the frame.

"They played real well defensively, we turned it over and we didn't hit shots," said WW South coach Mike Healy. "In all aspects of the game West Aurora was just better than we were."